Month: August 2012

Target (TGT) announced that it earned $1.06 per share in its most recent fiscal quarter, versus the $1.01 per share that analysts estimated. Revenue was $16.78 billion.

TJX Companies (NYSE:TJX) is yet another retailer seeing positive quarterly results. The owner of Marshalls and T.J. Maxx reported net profit of $421.1 million or 56 cents a share, above the 55 cent analyst estimate. Revenue rose 9% from last year to $5.95 billion, just below the street’s estimate of $6 billion.TJX attributes the gain to an increase in shopper traffic and demand for inexpensive designer products. On this positive news, the company now expects full-year earnings in the range of $2.39 to $2.45, an increase from their previous forecast earlier this month.Shares of the company seeing a slight boost in today’s trading. TJX stock is currently up close to a half a percent to $44.41.

From FNNO.com, this is the Financial News Network. I’m Cleo Stiller-Farrell.Today’s top story: second quarter results announced for many European markets, with numbers better than expected. Europe’s leading economy, Germany, saw its GDP rise 0.3% from its first quarter levels and France’s economy plateaued. While these numbers are by no means impressive, France was able to avoid a market contraction, which analysts are counting as good news. US market futures traded up in reaction to the announcements. I’m Cleo Stiller-Farrell. For more coverage of the business world follow us on Twitter at FNNonline or check our website out at FNNO.com.

This is your Market Close Wrap Up for August 14, 2012. Stocks fall into the red toward the end of trading today most likely on worries over the eurzone economy. But wall street fought back to finish relatively flat after having modest gains for most of the day.Those modest gains were caused by good news from the Commerce Department. The agency reported retail sales jumped an unexpected 0.8% in July from the previous month. Analysts were expecting a rise of just 0.3%. The news could be seen as a sign the U.S. economy is on the road to recovery.Oil and Gold finished mixed on the day. Oil was relatively flat but was up above $93 a barrel. Gold lost $11 to finish at $1,602 an ounce.One of the biggest winners today was Transcontinental Realty Investors, finishing up over 20% after posting positive second quarter earnings results. One of the biggest losers: Groupon. It’s shares finishing down over 26% on news of its less-than-expected quarterly revenue. Taking a look at where the markets closed today. The Dow finished up over 2 points to 13,172. The S&P finished flat and the Nasdaq was down over 5 points.For more market updates and analysis of the business world follow us on twitter @FNNOnline or check out our website at fnno.com

Preliminary data out Europe suggest the 2nd quarter real GDP in the euro area contracted by 0.2% QoQ, down from a 0% growth in the 1st quarter. Contraction was largely driven by the weakness in the periphery countries, such as Portugal, Spain and Greece. Core countries like Germany recorded growth supported by domestic and external demands, but these demands were not enough to counter the overall slowdown. The elevated financial tensions in June through July surely affected consumer and business sentiment, which in turn are weighting down on consumption and investment in all countries. For more news and updates, keep it right here at the Financial News Network. I’m Julia Sun, follow us online for more news on the go.

Avago Technologies (AVGO) had its price target raised to $45 by Citigroup (C) with a buy rating, as strong wireless growth is expected towards the end of the year due to the iPhone 5 introduction. Shares are about even on the day.

As the saying goes, there are many possible reasons for an insider to sell a stock, but only one reason to buy — they expect to make money. So let’s look at two noteworthy recent insider buys.

Safety-Kleen announced today that it filed a registration statement on Form S-1 with the US Securities and Exchange Commission for a proposed initial public offering of its common stock. The offered shares will be sold by certain of its stockholders.

Pfizer Inc (NYSE: PFE) is finally breaking away from its animal health division through an initial public offering. The new company named Zoetis filed for the IPO on Monday following reports Pfizer was ready to sell the business.The number one U.S drugmaker hopes to raise $100 million by selling about 20% of Zoetis to the public. According to Bloomberg, Pfizer may give the rest of the stock to current shareholders or save it to be sold later. This move comes as Pfizer has been making an effort to consolidate itself and focus only on its prescription drug business, having sold its infant nutrition unit in April. Juan Ramon Alaix, the current head of the division, will continue on as CEO of the new Zoetis.

In trading on Tuesday, auto dealerships shares were relative leaders, up on the day by about 1%. Leading the group were shares of Advance Auto Parts (AAP), up about 1.9% and shares of Penske Automotive Group (PAG) up about 1.8% on the day.